RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team earned a hard-fought 3-1 (25-23, 15-25, 25-23, 26-24) victory in the South Texas Showdown presented by Rally Credit Union over the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) Islanders Tuesday in front of a crowd of 1,704 – the third-best in program history.
UTRGV (4-3) junior right side
Perris Key recorded her second double-double of the season with 12 kills and a career-high tying 17 digs, also adding two aces and 1.5 blocks. Junior outside hitter
Claudia Lupescu came in for the final two sets and had seven big kills with five key digs and three assists. Junior setter
Luanna Emiliano had 39 assists and 14 digs for her second double-double and also had six kills. Senior
Luisa Silva Dos Santos and freshman outside hitter
Nadine Zech contributed 10 kills each and Zech had eight digs.
TAMUCC (4-2) had
Kyndal Payne and
Tori Arrington lead all hitters with 15 and 14 kills each, while
Kayla White had a match-high 21 digs.
The Vaqueros were playing from behind to start the match, falling behind 16-10 midway through the opening frame as the Islanders hitters found open spots on the court to put balls away. With a pair of aces from Key and junior libero
Kiaraliz Perez, and the help of some TAMUCC errors, the Vaqueros erased the deficit.
Back-to-back kills from Zech brought UTRGV even with the Islanders at 19-19, and a kill from Assis gave the Vaqueros their first lead at 23-22. Key slammed down a heavy kill to get to set point, then a well-placed first-ball over from Perez fell into the deep corner of the court for the rare libero kill and the 25-23 set win.
The second set was much of the same, with the teams swapping scores and staying within two points of each other to start. But a 5-0 run for the Islanders, backed by a trio of big kills from Arrington, put TAMUCC in control at 13-7. A steady Islanders offense had the Vaqueros guessing against the attack and struggling in serve-receive, resulting in a seven-point TAMUCC lead late in the frame. A pair of kills from Santos sparked a 3-0 run for UTRGV, but back-to-back service aces – two of five in the set – sealed the 25-15 win to tie the match at 1-1.
UTRGV jumped out to a lead early in the third set behind good effort from Key and Lupescu. Scrappy defense and good pressure on the net forced some attack errors from the Islanders, allowing the Vaqueros to create some cushion. They went on a 5-0 run, with back-to-back dump kills from Emiliano who smartly placed balls in the gaps.
With the Vaqueros leading 17-11 after a rocket kill from Zech, the Islanders reeled off six unanswered points to tie the frame by keeping the defense on their heels. The teams swapped scores in an intense close. Lupescu, Key and Emiliano found the floor to put UTRGV up 2-1 after taking the set, 25-23.
TAMUCC opened the fourth set with some momentum, but the Vaqueros kept fighting. Both teams struggled to stay in system and had a handful of attack errors, but credit both defenses for being tenacious and getting after everything to keep the teams swapping scores.
UTRGV's block came up big when it was needed most. Key and junior middle blocker
Margherita Giani shut down an attack to trim the deficit to 20-19, then the duo came up with two more to tie it at 21-21. Lupescu was the spark for the Vaqueros in the final two sets, and fittingly slammed down two massive kills that caused the record crowd to erupt to push UTRGV to victory, 26-24 in the fourth.
The Vaqueros and Islanders will face off again in Corpus on Saturday at 6:30 p.m., followed by a 1 p.m. Sunday match against Tulane at the Islanders Classic.
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